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Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says water is critical to the Māori economy, but arguments about ownership won’t generate any more of it.
Te Rarawa last week turned the sod on a water storage scheme in Ahipara it is building with the assistance of the Provincial Growth Fund.
Mr Jones says it will allow the iwi to convert former Landcorp dairy farms into horticulture, which will generate more jobs.
"The new whakatauki is that the pathway to Māori land prosperity is over water. There is no other answer because as we're faced with climate change difficulties , changing weather patterns, we've just got to be pragmatic ourselves and park up some of our historical debates about who owns the water and get on with storing water or the longer we take to pursue the deeper philosophical questions through the courts, our land will be short changed," he says.
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